Real Madrid 2.0: an Introduction
Saturday, 02 May 09, 03:39 PM · Comments(1)
The week ended for Real Madrid with another series in a long line of indignities: losing 2-6 to an FC Barcelona squad that had clearly been looking forward to the return leg at the Bernabeu since just after their last visit when the blaugrana hoisted the traditional honor guard for their hated rivals to celebrate winning the league the week before. Add last week's temporary loss of motor control for one Brazilian player (the Portuguese international defender Pepe) and another embarrassing set acted out by Robinho's brother from another mother Marcelo, to the growing list of frauds, hooligans and fakirs that have settled into the comfy corners of Europe's most dysfuncttional club. It is remarkable actually that the club still figured to stretch Barcelona for the league considering that their inherent need to self-destruct has been so prevalent since before the first whistle in the first game.
Let me quickly recap some of the year's prime stories. The club's unfulfilled pursuit of Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo left them with a major publicity disaster, losing not only the subsequent war of words with Sir Alex Ferguson; where he lamented the abuse of power by the Madrid giants and gave a misguided history lesson about the club's attachment to the Franco regime. Ramon Calderon called him senile. Public fiasco #1. They lost the services of the player, but it also triggered the Robinho trifecta; where he cried on public television for Chelsea to save him, the London club printed replica shirts for the Brazilian, and an angry Madrid subsequently sold him to the Sultan of Manchester City. Public fiasco #2. To replace the Brazilian's late exit, the club had clearly had no backup for the Ronaldo signing, they began a series of impulse buys: Rafael Van der Vaart first, and then Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Lassana Diarra and most surprisingly Julien Faubert from West Ham, who came to Madrid in January with no knowledge that Madrid had even been up for him, and neither it seems did Real Madrid management. No one wanted to take credit or blame, a hallmark of the Ramon Calderon Presidency. They fired Bernd Schuster for essentially having given up on the club, the German was frozen out of a power struggle with sporting director Peja Mijatovich, and hired Juande Ramos who had failed so miserably at Tottenham. They were drilled out of the Copa del Rey in November by a third division side in Real Union which had last won the Cup in 1927 and they were drilled out of the Champions League 5-0 on aggregate by Liverpool marking the fifth year in a row that the club had exited the competition in the first knockout stage. Even Ramon Calderon was forced to step down from the club after questions rose about the validity of a club election in December that had ratified club finances.
The club is resigned to the fact that the league is for Barcelona, a humiliating year capped by one truly unacceptable event, but they can take into account that the last two years ended similarly for their clasico rivals. An election is coming. Florentino Perez is returning to his post and is set to usher another run of Galacticos for the merengues. I'd like to think that would be a great idea, certainly it's better than what's there at the present, but I'm not so certain. For the next few weeks I'll be starting a series called Real Madrid 2.0 to give you my take on the club and their re-organization. I hope you like it.
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forzafutbol
Los Angeles, US
A better lens into the World's Game. We talk about UEFA Cup, Champions League and International matches, especially when they intersect with teams in Spain and Italy, we talk transfer rumours, gossip and everything else that revolves around the world's greatest game.
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Pet Snakes said:Love your writing style and the design of your blog, its very original! Well do...
Mando said:I think you can get 3 for the price of what you'd pay for Kaka and Ronaldo. Aul...
trooper said:here is my squad list:
GK - iker casillas & codina
DEFENCE: maicon,ramo...
Keftbubpoet said:I don't like the colour.
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